The months before I left the United States to embark on my five month long Irish adventure, what I was most excited to experience was the traditional cuisine. I am a foodie through and through, so getting to chow down on food that is different than what I am used to is a dream. I expected amazing dishes with deep exotic flavors, lots of potatoes, and ignorantly I thought corned beef and cabbage was a real Irish meal. For all you Americans out there whose moms made that meal every year on St. Patrick’s day, it’s a lie that is not an Irish thing. In fact, I do not think that Irish food is all it is cracked up to be at all.
Photo by: MaryAnn Witt
Towards the beginning of my Irish adventure I found myself in a small town just outside of Cork. The town is called Kinsale, and it is the most charming little place I have been to here. While I was there I walked into a pub for dinner and had the pleasure of meeting Daragh, a kind old Irish man that had been working in the pub for thirty five years. I asked him what the best Irish dish was to order from their menu and this sparked up a wonderful conversation about what Irish food really is versus the expectations Americans have of the cuisine.
Daragh told me that what he considers to be Irish dishes would be beef and Guinness stew, shepherd’s pie, and fish and chips. After being here for a while, I think I would agree. These are dishes that you can find in pretty much any pub around the country. They are comfort food as we would describe it in the states and have amazing flavor, but these are also dishes you mainly see in restaurants. The food that the Irish eat on a day to day basis is another story.
Photo by: Bill Johnston
Learning how to grocery shop in Ireland has been a struggle to say the least. I was honestly surprised at how hard it was to find items that I cook with on a normal basis back home in Phoenix. For example, chili powder, not a thing here. In fact most cooking essentials for me that add flavor to food is not easy to find. I have found that day to day food in Ireland is pretty bland and flavorless. The Irish can not handle spicy and I am pretty sure if they ate Mexican food in my hometown they would need a glass of milk to stomach the spice.
Food is a love language for me. I love to eat, I love to experience new food, and even more than that I love to share food with the people in my life I care about. Eating my way through Ireland has been a fun way to get to know the people around me and learn what it means to live an Irish lifestyle.
A Day in the Life 